Law enforcement agencies and others in the Public Safety sector need new and smarter solutions to ensure our security. They need ways to harness information to better understand situations and how to respond faster to threats.
Data visualization, real-time collaboration and credible analytics can help agencies monitor city areas, predict and respond more effectively to incidents, streamline information sharing and collaborate in the management of major events and emergencies.
As cities work with the private sector to gradually implement new competencies and technologies, the increased information-sharing and unified communication efforts are helping them to establish solutions that help identify successful outcomes and assists in developing preventive tactics.
Yet these public-private partnerships are not new. Various natural disasters in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries began to solidify the role of collaborative public and private sector efforts in public safety scenarios.
When you consider that 85 percent of the nation’s critical infrastructure is under private sector control, alliances between government and business are not only essential for homeland security, but for municipal and community security as well. Public-private partnerships can:
- enhance hiring,
- resource utilization,
- specialization,
- cross-sector trust,
- and technological innovation.
They are often able to cut across traditional bureaucratic divides within government. And they can enhance public protection in ways not possible for government or businesses acting independently.
To that end, secured and safe city initiatives have created models for successful collaborative efforts across the United States.
From New York’s massive municipal video surveillance system and homeland security network to community-supported projects in Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Baltimore, the goal of creating safe living and business spaces is being embraced by government, law enforcement and the private sector.
Sharing this vision and providing peer-based best practices on how this world of collaboration works, is the mission of Secured Cities.
Secured Cities, the nation’s leading event focused on municipal emergency management communications, video surveillance and information technology provides attendees with peer-based experience in the development, implementation and uses of these complex systems. With more jurisdictions being charged every day with the development or improvement of these systems, frequently without additional funding, Secured Cities is the one event that can help answer critical questions.
If you can only attend one event this year, Secured Cities is your MUST ATTEND event. It provides real-world solutions for security, public safety and emergency management and operations, funding and grant approvals, strategies for partnering and collaboration, technology selection and system implementation. Project partners discuss what is trending in funding and grants, current video surveillance and security design and best-of-breed emergency management solutions.
With more than 40 concurrent sessions scheduled for the Houston event, here are a few that are relevant to your space:
- Mass Transit and Campus Security: Mobile Screening Comes of Age
- Panel Discussion: Coordinating Agency Participation at Houston’s TranStar Emergency Operations Center
- Houston and Harris County Interagency Video Surveillance Collaboration
- The City of Brownfield – A Case Study: How to integrate new security investments with operational implementations
- Understanding the Impact of Social Media on Security Operations
- Managing Risk at Texas Medical Center: From Technology to Operations
- Emergency Management Coordination in Major Metropolitan Areas
- University Campus Surveillance - Design Best Practices: An Analysis of the University of Texas – Pan American System
- Real-time Cyber Analytics, Dashboards and Assessment Tools: City of Houston Cybersecurity Best Practices
- Roving DID Teams for Security and Contraband Interdiction
- Healthcare Security and Resource Justification: Where Science Meets Art
- Real-time Video for Crowd Sourced Crime Prevention
- Public Assembly - Mega Events are Mega Targets: Houston Prepares for 2017 Super Bowl
- The Whole Community Plan for a Biologic Disaster
Secured Cities 2015 will be held November 10-12, in Houston, TX, at the Reliant Crowne Plaza Hotel. The one-of-a-kind event showcases the wireless capabilities of our nation’s cities and suburbs, featuring three-days of classroom sessions/panel discussions, a two-day sponsors’ hall featuring the latest in new products and technologies, and several interactive venue security tours including, NASA Kennedy Space Center, Texas Medical Center, Reliant Stadium complex, and the City of Houston Office of Emergency Management Houston Emergency Center (note: subject to change). For more information and a complete list of classes, please visit www.securedcities.com.
Also, Security Technology Executive magazine, in coordination with Secured Cities, are again honoring the most innovative integrated deployments the security industry has to offer. For the 9th consecutive year, security, risk, emergency management and law enforcement professionals, along with systems integrators and PE firms are invited to showcase their unique projects. When you submit your collaborative project in the highly competitive Security Innovation Awards program, you will receive some well-deserved recognition at the Secured Cities Awards Luncheon at the Crowne Plaza Reliant Hotel in Houston on November 12, 2015.
The Security Innovation Awards are open to all vendors, solution providers, integrators, PE firms, consultants and end-users. This coveted accolade recognizes the most impressive collaborative project highlighting the lead vendors, integrator (or consultant, or engineer) and the end-user client.
The Security Innovation Awards parallel the focus of the annual Secured Cities event, which features peer-to-peer best practices and lessons learned in the areas of security operations, management and technology implementation. In keeping with the Secured Cities theme, project submissions are being sought from the following five public/private partnership sectors:
- Municipal/Urban Business Districts/Policing Districts
- Campus – K-12 and Colleges & Universities
- Healthcare Facilities & Campuses
- Transportation Authorities
- General Corporate Enterprises
It is easy to enter. Go to the Secured Cities web site and click the Innovation Awards spot on the top menu bar or enter http://securedcities.com/awards.php for more information.
(Steve Lasky is the conference/content director of Secured Cities. For more information about the event or entering a project for the Security Innovation Awards, please contact him at [email protected])
